Issue - meetings

In November 2019, Ofsted undertook a focussed visit in respect of planning for permanence for children in BCP. 

The outcome of this inspection highlighted a number of areas of improvement which are summarised in our Children’s Services Learning and Improvement Plan.

The improvement plan was updated in light of the inspection outcomes and progress is overseen through the BCP Quality Performance Improvement Board. 

The Corporate Parenting Board is the governance board which oversees the BCP Corporate Parenting Strategy. This report offers an update in relation to the progress being made for children and actions in place to improve our service delivery to children in BCP.

The Service Director, Children and Young People’s Social Care, presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

In November 2019, Ofsted undertook a focussed visit in respect of planning for permanence for children in BCP. 

The outcome of this inspection highlighted a number of areas of improvement which were summarised in the Children’s Services Learning and Improvement Plan.

The improvement plan was updated in light of the inspection outcomes and progress was overseen through the BCP Quality Performance Improvement Board. 

The Corporate Parenting Board was the governance board which oversees the BCP Corporate Parenting Strategy. The report offered an update in relation to the progress being made for children and actions in place to improve the service delivery to children in BCP.

The Committee discussed the Report and comments were made, including:

• In response to clarification regarding definitions, the Committee was advised that permanence planning was where a long term plan was in place and parallel planning was thinking about a contingency plan
• A Member acknowledged the work that had been undertaken to improve permanence planning and the situation for children in care (CIC) and felt it would be beneficial for the Committee to receive some training on the processes used
• In response to a query regarding mental health, the Committee was advised that a strength and difficulties questionnaire was completed during initial health assessments and if it scored at a certain level it would trigger intervention.  It was highlighted that there had been an impact on children and young people’s mental health during this pandemic, and this was being closely monitored
• There was some discussion around concerns regarding the lack of breadth of offer available for Post 16 pupils across BCP and in response, the Service Directors detailed their ongoing work within this area which included recently reviewing all the Personal Education Plans (PEPs) for CIC, proactive engagement through the virtual school and ongoing work to help increase the breadth of offer available, particularly vocational courses which it was highlighted was one of the Learning Partnership Board’s key priority
• There was some discussion around apprenticeship schemes and the Committee was advised that work was ongoing with the young people within our care to try and identify and match them with work experience, apprenticeships and training.  It was also noted that the School Improvement Team did a lot of work around bridging education and employment opportunities.
• In response to a concern regarding timeliness of the initial assessment data detailed in the supplementary information, the Committee was advised that it was acknowledged that the percentages detailed were not acceptable and that a lot of work was being undertaken to address this including simplifying the process and measures being put in place to ensure a faster pace in relation to referrals.  The Committee was reassured that the figure was now approximately 60% of assessments completed within the timescale set and there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92